The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 3 - Patriots, Broncos

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

Senior Writer Seth Wickersham joins the show to give his insight on why the Patriots have struggled since Tom Brady left in free agency and the issues with the Broncos offense.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the Hurt at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the IHartRadio app by search heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Well, Seth Wickersham is a great writer.

He wrote that book we had him on before called It's Better to Be Feared, the Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness and that greatness is now mediocrity and spiraling down. He also just wrote a story on Sean McVeigh and the Rams, which is they're doing an amazing job. You know, I want

to start with the McVan the Rams first, Seth, because I said something last week. I said, when I watched them play, they got issues. Van Jefferson's hurt. Alan Robinson, I don't think he's washed. He's 29, but it's not great. Cam Acres is fumbling near the goal line and reportedly McVeigh's frustrated because he doesn't block. Whitworth retired. Brian Allen's hurt the center. And they're just kind of making it work. The coach is good. The culture's good. Everybody buys in. Arizona is the opposite where I question the coach and the culture, but I love the players. So you recently spent multiple days.

with McVeigh, and it was in the off-season. Is there a secret sauce to him? What was your takeaway flying back to the East Coast after you sat down with him? Yeah, thanks, man. I appreciate it. It's good to see you again. Man, I was with Sean.

I visited him every month in the off-season for at least a couple days. So I got a pretty good sense of him. And what I was really curious about was, like, what was it that he brought to football that has led him to almost burn himself out at age 36? I mean, he's off to a historic start. You know, he is a chance to go down as one of the all-time grades if he can hang in there. And the torture that he was feeling about his craft was a thing I wanted to get out with him.

And I also think that it addresses your question as to what makes him so special because he's the system as much, maybe not quite as much, but almost as much as Bill Belichick might be in New England. And what he's been able to do, I don't think that he's ever articulated it this way. And I don't know if he would. But in my opinion, I think that he's been able to take what he learned from Mike Shanahan, from studying Bill Belichick and getting to know him and take a culture that we thought for the past two decades could only be done one way. Culture of winning. It has to be a little bit miserable, has to be a little bit tough and brutal like it was in New England. And I think he's been able to make that fun. It is hard to take the collection of personalities that he's had there and turn it into something special.

And yet he's been able to do it. Well, you're in this story business, writing them and finding them. Was there a McVeigh story that you'd not heard of that was unreported, that you kind of, you know, a little gem that you found when you spent time with him? I mean, there's a lot of them. You know, I'll let readers go look up what he said to try to convince Team Brass to trade for Matthew Stafford in Cabo when he had had a couple tequila because it's not quite perfect for your air. But that said, I think the thing that interested me most was last year in November when they didn't lose an entire. game and just how physically sick he was and how I think that he was almost broken at that point and what it took for him to get his mind right. He was almost like retreating home and disconnecting

from the rest of the building so that he could get his mind right. And Rahim Morris, as defensive coordinator, who I think should be a head coach in this league soon, was the one who was one of the only people who had a relationship with him strong enough that he could say, look, I know what's going on with you and we need you back in the building. We need you to re-engage. Sean ended up having like a really long meeting with Matthew Stafford that was unreported that, you know, where they basically had to look at their, the pressure that they were under. And it was almost like therapeutic where they talked about how much stress they were under and were able to kind of share that and articulate in a way that they weren't able to do before. And I'm not saying that's

the reason why they won the Super Bowl, but I think it's the reason why Sean was able to help get that team out of that November slide. Yeah. And on the way to the point where they won the Super Bowl. All right, let's shift now to your book. Just came out in paperback. It's better to be feared. Just released online and in bookstores. It's fantastic. It is a great read.

Highly recommend it. And now we look at this in the rearview mirror. You know, I was showing something earlier today, Seth. I tend to be a theory guy. I find data. And I kind of like that. That's kind of how I do my show. and of the seven lowest rated quarterbacks, six have defensive head coaches.

And the only offensive one, the only offensive one is Frank Reich. And I thought last week they got it right. And my belief is there's been some cultural changes in the NFL. Once the CTE fear came in, moms fearing their sons playing football, you can't hit a quarterback, you can't hit a receiver. Running back's about the last guy you get a free shot at. So that's the world now. And that means a lot of the high school kids and the college kids, they want to play receiver, quarterback.

They want to be famous, make money, and not get hit. So the world is changing, almost like basketball in the three-point shot. There's no more back to the basket centers. You go look at California high school recruiting in Texas and Florida. All the best athletes want to be quarterbacks and wide receivers. Fame, money, you can't hit me. So what's happening in football is defensive coaches, the rules have changed. they're at literally a huge disadvantage in this sport.

And it's happening fast, Seth. This is my theory. Ron Rivera, Pete Carroll, Belichick, Zimmer, Tomlin. They feel like outmaneuvered. And so as I go back to your book, my takeaway is the league is built for Andy Reed and McVeigh, it's not built for Belichick. And I don't think this is just a bad break. I think Bill's going to struggle going forward.

That is my takeaway. Am I being hyperbolic? Do you see some of these changes? Are you shocked at all by how bad it's been for the Patriots? I don't know if I agree with it in terms of Belichick, but yeah, let me take you back. You know, there was years ago that I was talking to Belichick about exactly what you're talking about. And he was talking about this route concept that they had stolen from Urban Meyer. And I said, you know, what do you guys call that?

And he goes, oh, we call out our gator package from Urban Meyer and, Florida. Then I went to go talk to Brady about it and I said, yeah, so when you run your gator package and he kind of just stares at me, like he has no idea what I'm talking about. And I'm like, your gator package? And he goes, yeah, I don't know. I was like, well, Coach Belichick told me it's the gator package. And he said, yeah, you have to remember, he's a defensive coach. Right. I think that, I think that like with Bill, he's presided over a lot of great offenses, especially in 2007. And if you look at the situation they have now,

I think the question to be asking, I agree with your larger theory, but with him in specific, not having an offensive coordinator, having Matt Patricia call the offensive plays, knowing that Mack Jones is a competent quarterback, but the competence is not going to cut it in the overpopulated great quarterback AFC,

is this helping him get better? I think that's the question that's facing the Patriots right now, because he's had seasons before where he doesn't have an offensive coordinator. Back when he was with the Browns in the early 90s, he once had 15 coaches on his staff and no offensive coordinator. And when he was asked about it, he was saying the same things he says now about how everyone pitches in.

All that said, no one's talking about the 90s, lighting the league on fire on offense. Yeah, well, you know, by the way, in 1990, that may have worked. I mean, you could go into a season and say, we're a running team that plays defense, kind of a Dave Wanstatt team. That won a lot of games in divisions back then.

That's like saying we pounded inside and we dunk a lot. The Warriors are like, we play small ball and hit threes. So it is interesting. The Tomlins, Pete Carrolls, Belichick, Mike Zimmer, they're Ron Rivera. So when you look at Brady now, it's been a little turbulent. You know, Aryan's now upstairs. He and Giselle, the stuff I, it's not stuff I want to talk about,

but we know it's bumpy. the ownership thing in Miami. Are you surprised by some of the turbulence? Or is it just being, like he's Rinaldo in America. Is it part and partial to fame? No, it's been a weird, atypical year for Brady. I mean, here's someone through for most of his two decades in the public eye has been very drama-free, right? And this year has been nothing but drama, beginning with the fact that as last year ended, as I reported my book,

he had grown disenfranchised with the Bucks. He didn't think they were really buttoned up heading into the playoffs under Brouserians, a person who he loves. But again, he was used to approaching the game and the teams being buttoned up for games to the endth degree in New England. And that just isn't Brusarian style. They lose to the Rams after almost coming back.

Jeff Darlington and Adam Schafter report that he's going to retire. He says he's not going to retire. Two days after that he retired saying that he wants to spend more time with his family. week after that, he says he might unretire. A month after that, he says after a month with his family, he's learned that his places on the field. Ariens goes upstairs. Then Brady leaves training camp, and he's starting this season, not only down receivers, but with, you know, his marriage being written about almost on a daily basis in CNN, the New York Post people. He just does not look like he's having very much fun. And frankly, you can't blame him at all.

Yeah, no, it's a good point. Hey, let me ask you another question. You've, you know, your senior writer, ESPN, Seth Wickersham, show the book again. It's better to be feared. Just released. Available online, all bookstores, paperback now. Buy it. I've read it. It's great. We had them on about a year ago. And we talked Rams, McVeigh, you just interviewed, and Belichick.

Let me give you another non-NFL question, or an NFL question outside of that. Is that, and you have just labyrinth of sources in the NFL. So we got into this the other day. We were talking about Nathaniel Hackett. So in Greenfield, Bay, I've always worried about this. Like, let's take college football. Dan Lennon got hired at Oregon, but Kirby smarts a defensive

coordinator. So my takeaway is how much the Dan Lennon, what was he responsible for? That's Kirby's defense. Sabin's had a lot of offensive coordinators hired, right? Because Nick lets those guys run it, Kiff and Sark, all those guys. So Matt LaFleur and Aaron Rogers have a very strong point of view. Nathaniel Hackett's there. And later Aaron Rogers is like we play D. Darts. He's funny. And I'm thinking, that's not what I want to hear. That's not, I'm not interested in darts. And so I watch him go to Denver and I think to myself, oh my God, the offense is the problem. That's his side of the ball. McVeigh solved that in an hour. McDermott solved defense in Buffalo in an hour. What do we know about Nathaniel Hackett other than his dad coached? Like this thing in Denver, aesthetically, Seth, it looks awful. Is it a Russ issue? Is it a

Nathaniel, what are you hearing with all your sourcing? Yeah, and I think that you can't forget that there was a big question in the league whether Rogers was going to return to football and whether he wanted to return to Green Bay. And I'm still convinced that that's one of the reasons why Hackett was hired and that even as they were in the process of trading for Russell Wilson, they were still just making sure that Aaron Rogers was definitely going to stay in Green Bay. Look, it's been a sloppy start so far for Nathaniel Hackett. There's no question about that.

I was at the week two game. You know, they were sloppy against the Texans who aren't a very good team. They looked horrible on offense against the 49ers who are a good team. That said they're two and one. I think that what we're seeing is a steep learning curve from being a coordinator to the head coach. And not everyone can make it. Whether he can make it remains to be seen. And I think the other thing is that Seattle believed, and they believed this for a long time,

that Russell Wilson had limitations. And I think that the worst place you can be in the NFL is if you have a B plus quarterback and you're paying them like a surefire future Hall of Famer, which we're not exactly sure that Russ is. They believe that Russ had gotten a little bit slower, that he struggled to anticipate windows and that there were certain passes, even because of his height, even though he's done so much to transcend that, that he still couldn't make. And it allowed defenses to cheat a little bit. And I think that when you watch Russell Wilson play, look, he's had some drop passes, and he clearly is not benefiting from a completely disorganized offense. That said, there were some things about him that Seattle had self-scouted, and they believed that he was maybe on the backside of his career.

And I think that you're seeing some of that right now with him in Denver. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me.

Cliver Taylor the Follinger. forth. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind, podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two.

Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Do you remember when Diana Ross doubled tap little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we picket here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, you know what, Seth? The truth is, if you look at the history of quarterbacks that move out of the pocket, Ben aged fast, Cam aged fast. I don't remember Fran Tarkington. He was the first quarterback that moved around. Kyler, by the way, has played poor at the end of seasons.

It's just a harder life, you know, when you're, you know, and I think that's the reality. Like, Jalen hurts. But, you know, it's funny. Let me pivot to this. Like, I have always def-not always. My takeaway in Lamar Jackson is, listen. if you sign him for a five-year deal and in four years he starts to go off the cliff. In the NFL, who cares?

I just don't want to be the New York Giants. And I do think what we're seeing, Seth, is that, and it's a really good point on Russell, is that I'm willing to spend big money on Jalen Hertz, Lamar, Kyler, but we have to realize that the pocket, this Brady thing's never going to happen again. You're going to get nine years. and then they, by the way, Aaron now is much less effective throwing on the run. I've seen his data in the last two years. And so I think, again, holistically, I think we look at quarterbacks and my takeaway is,

if they're good now and fairly young, sign them and pay them a fortune. And I think to your point, maybe I'm too much of a homer, Russell looks heavier and slower. He does, right? And he's always, and I do think that Russell Wilson more than, a lot of short quarterbacks, he's done a lot to transcend his limitations. I mean, Dix guy is a really good football player. But again, he's always done, he's always needed things that defenses could cheat on. Like, for instance, needing a lot of space in the pocket. Like, if you look, he's most comfortable when he drops back way deep and almost throws a 25-yard

pass for a 12-yard completion. And I think that, again, he's a really good player, and he's elevated that team. And even though they've only played the 49ers that are a good team, He has made some throws in their two wins that the opposing quarterback didn't to help win games. And so we'll see. I think we need to be a little patient. But I do know that there's people around the league who saw Josh McDaniels come to the Raiders and thought what he might do with Derek Carr and wondered if the Broncos were still, still had the fourth best quarterback in that division even after they traded for Russell Wilson.

Wow, that's interesting. All right. Seth Wickersham, show the book again, the paperback version of Seth's book. It's better to be feared. Amazon, online bookstores, it's better to be feared. The Patriots Dynasty in Pursuit of Greatness. With a couple minutes left here, go back to that book. As you write the book, hindsight's 2020.

You can say, boy, but is there a message in that book you look at now and you think, I'm not surprised? You go back. I'm going to go read this book again, by the way. is there a message in there and that year 12, year 13 of that dynasty, we should have known it was very much Brady driven? Well, what I tried to do with the book was get as close as I possibly could through all my interviews with them over the years, through interviewing everybody I could possibly think of to show readers the forces and the factors that led to the greatness of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady and show the cost of it so that readers understood that this wasn't some hokey sanitized version of it. And there have been cost to their greatness.

And I think that one of the things that I really focused on, the last 30% or so of the book, is when Tom Brady is trying to do something unprecedented, play until the age he's playing at at the level that he's playing at, that you lose something. And the family dynamic and the pressure that he's put on the family by being so singularly dedicated to what he needs to do, there is no roadmap for what Tom Brady is doing. He's inventing it as he goes, and the way that he knows is only putting in the effort that he puts in. And I think that what we're seeing is that there's been a strain for a long time about how hard this is and how much he devotes into his craft. And I think that, again, it's a difficult topic, but we are seeing reports about marital struggles. Sometimes it looks like they have different camps leaking against each other. Right. And, you know, given the way that the offseason went and the couple years before that where Giselle was really just so vocal about her preference that he needed to be more present at home and that she had given up a lot for his career.

I think that we're seeing some of that play out. And I'm not like proud of showing that in the book, but I just think it's a real cost of his greatness. Yeah. Seth Wickersham, always smart, always thoughtful. Go read that book. I'm going to go read it again. and you're a busy guy and didn't have to do this, and I always appreciate you stopping by our show, Seth.

My pleasure. Always good to talk to you, man. Thank you. All right. Boy, he's good at what he does. Seth Wickersham. Senior writer at the other place. They don't let me talk to many of their people anymore.

Persona non-grot over there. I always thought it was wonderful to get along with people. Really enjoyed my company. Ryan, I guess not? He's one of the only ones they let me talk to. And you are a people person. And, by the way, he's one of the only ones I want to talk to, but there's the only ones they let me talk to it.

That was uncalled. That was unnecessary. That was a yellow card in soccer right there. That's what that was. Yellow card by me. Unprovoked. Juvenile shot at those guys. It's a great second-best sports company out there.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the I-Hard Radio app. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's me, three-time Pro Bowl of LaVoy, Arrington, and I couldn't be more. excited to announce a new podcast called Up On Game. What is Up on Game, you ask? Along with my fellow Pro Bowler, T.J. Hushmanzada and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right.

Plexico Burris. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be sharing our real-life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up On Game with me, LaVar Arrington, T.J. Hushman Zada and Plexico Burris on the IHeart Radio. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast from. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversation.

conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clivert Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,

thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontans and wampas on the ice planet hot. or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so... Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every new potential hire these days can feel like a high-stakes wager with your business. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash shirt. LinkedIn.com slash shirt.

J-Mac with the news. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Right, Colin, we're going to start with the 49ers. Obviously, they had a tough loss to the Broncos on Sunday night. The offense just couldn't get much going with Jimmy G's first start of the season.

Former Niner Joe Staley is hoping this was just a fluke performance. It's easy now hindsight saying, like, well, you know, you didn't have training camp and all this stuff. He's coming back from the shoulder injury. But, yeah, it just wasn't more than a great game. He just looked off and, you know, the throws weren't quite there. You know, from my advantage point in the stand, it just like, it just wasn't clicking. And I've been there, you know, we've had really good teams, too, as players where just one day, and it just wasn't there.

And offensively, that was a game that, you know, hopefully this is not the Niners' offense that we're going to see the rest of the season. This is kind of the maybe just a blip. They're going to be fine. Okay, so there is a video circulating on the Internet that came from Sunday night football. Someone sent it to me. It's after, I think, the interception in the fourth quarter that was tipped, and Jimmy G, the camera close up on him,

and it looks like he's saying into the headset, your plays suck, man. Like he's just not happy with some of Shanahan's play calls. Or is he saying to himself, man, you're playing sucks, man. It's possible. I think the media is going to ask him about it because it's going viral right now. Oh, it is. Literally wrecked this moment.

This moment. It just popped like an hour ago, yeah. Someone sent it to me, and now it's out there everywhere. Did he say it to? He's just in the headset with the hell. helmet on, no players around him. He's just walking off the camera, NBC cameras up close on. And he says, your play sucks, man. Your play suck, man. Sucked or sucks? Because if you're saying, my play sucks.

I don't think he's talking about himself, but he could be. That's a good point. A lot of people are saying he's talking about Shanahan. Because remember, Shanahan didn't even want him. As you said earlier, Shanahan left him to the side. You can't have the playbook. By the way, Shanahan wins 31% of his games without him, so I just simmer down. I just don't get that. All right, next up The Bengals and the Dolphins kickoff week four Thursday night. Tyreek Hill and Eli Apple face off. They were in the AFC championship game last year. Eli Apple got a huge tackle on Tyreek at the end of the first half to save the touchdown.

Remember chiefs were about to go up big. And Tyree Kill is now trash talking Eli Apple. Oh, we play on prime time this week. I didn't even know that. Oh, we play on Amazon Prime? That's going to be lit right there. I didn't even know that. But we looking forward to it.

Who we playing? Bengals? We're looking forward to the challenge. It's going to be fun. I can't wait to go against Eli Apple. I owe you, boy. I owe you. I'm here.

The Cheetah is here. Let's eat. He is fired up now. There is a report that Tua is dealing with a back ankle thing and did not practice today. I've told you. My favorite bed of the week is the Bengals. Now, I can't put it in my Blazing Five because it's Thursday. I think the Bengals are going to roll.

The line is up to four. It was two and a half Sunday night. I love the Bengals. And Tyree Kill, I think, only had two catches in the big game against Buffalo Bill. Well, they were never on the field. Yeah, they had 39 plays. You're right. Good call.

All right, final story. Colin, I don't know. The Brooklyn Nets, okay? Kyrie Irving last season, just a total disaster. Sitting out home games because he refused to get the vaccination. He wasn't able to join the team until March. And then he went off the rails a little bit and said he even had a huge contract waiting for him before he decided not to get vaccinated.

Here's Kyrie. I gave up four years, a hundred-something million, deciding to be unvaccinated, and that was the decision. It was contract, get vaccinated, or be unvaccinated, and there's a level of uncertainty of your future,

whether you're going to be in this league, whether you're going to be on this team. So I had to deal with that real-life circumstance of losing my job for this decision. We were supposed to have all that figured out, before training camp last year and it just didn't happen because of the status of me being vaccinated and I'm vaccinated

so I understood their point and I just had to live with it and it was a tough pill to swallow everybody makes choices I don't see him as a victim but he's definitely not a victim I wouldn't have made his choices I do believe when you're a member of a team

you have to sometimes sacrifice but you know listen the the the the the the The vaccine broke up friendships, divided the country, so a basketball player had a strong take. So did people at every company in the country. So I kind of look at it and I think in the end, that team's got a lot of higher maintenance players, which I don't think at the end of a season wins championships. But I think, you know, I look at the pandemic now in retrospect.

I was never a fan of mandates, but I was a fan for the first six months of wearing masks and getting vaccinated because we were all kind of hospitals were guessing. Nobody knew. Nobody knew anything. But, you know, like mandates and vaccine, what workforce didn't it affect? To be clear, the Nets came out right after this and we're like, that's not how it went down at all. But they didn't really go in on Kyrie.

They could have easily. Colin, he's starting this already. Okay? It's the preseason. I know. This should be water under the bridge. That's last year. moving forward amicably, we're moving on.

And he's starting with this crap already. We should have, we should like have this running sort of tote board on. There are athletes that are very strong personalities. Aaron Rogers would be at the top of the board. Kyrie would be second.

Kevin Durant would probably be third. That they kind of go to the beat of their own drummer. They're very sort of independent thinkers. We attack them often in the media because they don't align with what we think professional athletes and team members should do. But Aaron Rogers isn't changing and Kyler's not changing and Kyrie's not changing and Durand's not

changing. And I think you just have to come to terms with not everybody is kind of built the same way emotionally. And I think I just think Kyrie is just a different cat and you got to come to terms with what he is. He said he didn't want the vaccine. That's fine. You know what? The Nets are a team and New York is a state that had their rules. Right.

You don't want to abide by them. fine, you don't play. Colin, you have a show here. If you said, Jay, you got to get the Vax to be on the show, I'd get the Vax. Now, I already got it anyway. But if I didn't want to get it, you could just say, sorry, we're moving on. I'm going to find someone else. I understand.

That's how it works. I don't know why he's trying to play the victim card here. It's pathetic, Colin. It's embarrassing, Kyrie. It is. Well, all right. I guess I don't want to go into too hard. I don't want to have to be put in a position to defend Kyrie.

You certainly do know what I'm doing. No, but I would say this. I have defended Kevin Durant on some things, and I've defended Kyler Murray a lot. Even though Kyler Murray, I don't think it's great for the team concept culture. I've defended Kyler Murray because I just think in that league, if you don't have a top 15 quarterback, you're toast, and he's a top 15 quarterback. Let's remember, Kyrie is a guy who said to LeBron, I don't want to play with you anymore.

And by Jeff Stevens. And to Brad Stevens, I'm out of here by Jason Tatum. I don't want to work with you guys. And now he's causing trouble in Brooklyn. Like, there's a pattern here, you know? Would you, would you hire someone like that to be the face of your franchise? I have, I have a podcast network. I hire nothing but personalities.

You're going to hire Kyrie Irving? Bring him on board. Hey, I'm sure people would. Hey, Draymond, Strong Personality, Richard Sherman's strong personality. Totally different. Bring him on. Hey, can you tell Richard Sherman to unblock me on Twitter? It's been like three years.

Well, what did you say? I called him out for bad play. He was bad on the field. You can't take the heat, you know? Maybe you were a little over the top. I might have been over the top. Maybe yellow card for you, soccer guy. Come on, USA, step it up.

I defend Richard Sherman at all costs. J-Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. All right, hold on. All right. Just getting a little sourcing here.

What do we got? Well, hey, you know, you just got to, you know, Ramona Shelburne sent me a nice text. It's just always a pleasure to talk to her. I like Ramona. She's got a big TV show coming out, this show about the Clippers owner. Oh, she does? Yeah, yeah. She's involved in it.

She's smart. Good reporter. Great reporter, yeah. There are good people over there. Yeah, they just, they, uh, they blocked me. They wouldn't let me bring anybody on for like five years, which I took as a badge of honor. Oh, you're, you're a little terrified of this act over here. But they give me Seth Wickersham.

If you gave me Ramona, I'd bring her on. They wouldn't let me. I think I asked one time. It got a little prickly. I didn't. Yeah. I was very friendly. You know me.

I'm a man. I like to get along with everybody. Yeah, except Packers fans. Hey. Somebody are all over me today. They have worn those cheeseheads for so long. It's cut off circulation to their brains. Sick.

It's brutal. That was unprovoked as well. See you tomorrow. It's the herd. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

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